System and method for real-time computation and reporting of welding machine performance and metrics

ABSTRACT

A welding or cutting system is provided using a performance module which monitors the real-time performance of a welding or cutting system and displays this information on a user interface on the system. Other embodiments of the system also include a cost calculation function in which a cost of the welding or cutting operation is calculated.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Field of the Invention

Devices, systems, and methods consistent with the invention relate towelding and cutting, and more specifically related to systems andmethods for real-time computation and reporting of welding machineperformance and metrics.

Description of the Related Art

As welding technology and applications have advanced so have the demandson welding and cutting power supplies. These increased demands requirepower supplies to provide increased efficiency, power density and outputpower capabilities. Further, the cost of electricity has increased,causing the cost of using high power systems to rise. Therefore, thereis a demand and desire to use these higher power welding and cuttingsystems more efficiently, such that their cost of operation isoptimized.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

An exemplary embodiment of the present invention is a welding or cuttingpower supply with a housing and a power conversion module located withinthe housing which receives an input signal having a first voltage, firstcurrent and first power and converts the input signal into an outputsignal having a second voltage, second current and second power whichare each different from the respective first voltage, current andpowers. The power conversion module provides the output signal to aload. Also included is a performance monitoring module located withinthe housing and electrically coupled to the power conversion modulewhich receives a reference signal from the input signal and a referencesignal from the output signal during operation of the power conversionmodule and determines a real-time efficiency of the power conversionmodule by comparing the first power to the second power during anoperation of said power conversion module. At least one of a userinterface and a data connection device is coupled to the housing toprovide the determined real-time efficiency to a user. Real-time powerfactor correction and cost monitoring can also be provided.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The above and/or other aspects of the invention will be more apparent bydescribing in detail exemplary embodiments of the invention withreference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 illustrates a diagrammatical representation of a welding systemin accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 illustrates another diagrammatical representation of an exemplaryembodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 3 illustrates a diagrammatical representation of an exemplarywelding or cutting system of the present invention;

FIG. 4 illustrates a diagrammatical representation of another exemplarysystem of the present invention; and

FIG. 5 illustrates a diagrammatical representation of a flow chart to beused with embodiments of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EXEMPLARY EMBODIMENTS

Exemplary embodiments of the invention will now be described below byreference to the attached Figures. The described exemplary embodimentsare intended to assist the understanding of the invention, and are notintended to limit the scope of the invention in any way. Like referencenumerals refer to like elements throughout.

FIG. 1 depicts an exemplary power supply 100 of the present inventionwhich is capable of welding or cutting. The power supply 100 can haveany general topology or structure and the topology shown in FIG. 1 isintended to be exemplary and not limiting as other topologies will alsobe within spirit or scope of the present invention. In the embodimentshow, the system 100 has an inverter-type topology in which an AC inputsignal is provided to an input rectifier 101 which rectifies the ACsignal. The rectified signal is then directed to a regulated stage 103which can be any one of a boost circuit, buck circuit or combinedbuck-boost circuit which creates a DC bus B1 having a relatively fixedvoltage level. In an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, theregulated stage 103 performs power factor correction on its input signalto improve the performance of the system 100. The implementation andstructure of power factor correction circuits is generally known andwill not be discussed in detail herein, as skilled artisans are familiarwith its use and implementation. Downstream of the DC bus B1 is anunregulated stage 105 which can comprise an inverter, transformer and/orrectifier to convert the DC bus B1 signal to a second DC bus B2 having adifferent DC bus voltage than the first DC bus B1. The second DC bus B2is directed to an output circuit 107 which provides an output signal forwelding or cutting, as needed. The output circuit 107 can be any type ofcircuit capable of producing a welding or cutting output, such as achopper, PWM, etc. The system 100 also comprises a performancemonitoring module 109, a data storage device 111, a user interface 113and a data connector 115.

Because the operation of such welding or cutting topologies is generallyknow a detailed discussion of the operation of the welding and cuttingsystem 100 will not be described herein.

In various embodiments, the performance module 109 receives performancefeedback/feed forward information from the input signal, components ofthe system 100, at the input/output of some of the system 100 componentsand/or at the output of the system 100. Exemplary connections are shownin FIG. 1. This feedback information is used by the performance module109 to evaluate performance parameters of the system 100 and calculatethe operational efficiencies of the system 100. This will be discussedfurther below. As shown in FIG. 1, an input signal processing circuit102 receives the input signal at point A and determines the voltage,current, frequency and/or power of the input signal. The circuit 102then processes the determined values into either an analog or digitalsignal to be received by the module 109. Such circuit types aregenerally known and the structure need not be described herein indetail. However, the circuit 102 should be of a type that is capable ofreceiving and processing a range of input voltages, currents,frequencies and powers. This is because the welding or cutting system100 is capable of receiving and functioning over a variety of inputsignals. For example, the system 100 can operate with an input signalwith is either single or three-phase (three-phase is shown), over arange of input voltages (e.g., 100 to 600 volts), over a range of aninput frequencies (e.g., 50 to 60 Hz), over a range of currents andinput power. Similarly, a rectified signal processing unit 104 receivesthe signal from point B and processes it to provide the desiredfeedback/feed forward information to the module 109. This informationcan be any of voltage, current, power and/or frequency. Output signalprocessing circuit 110 performs a similar function with the outputsignal at point E, which can be feedback of any of power, voltage,and/or current.

In other exemplary embodiments, similar signal processing circuits 106and 108 process signals from the respective DC buses B1 and B2,respectively (points C and D). Again, these processing circuits canprocess any of the voltage, current, frequency and power of the signalsat their respective locations and provide that information to theperformance monitoring module 109.

The user interface 113 is the user interface of the system 100 whichallows a user to input operational information to the system 100 andalso contains a display screen which displays operational information ofthe welding or cutting operation. The data storage device 111 is anykind of data storage mechanism which is capable of receiving and storingperformance and operational information of the system 100. A dataconnection 115 is also provided and is coupled to at least the module109 and/or the data storage device 111 to allow for the transfer ofinformation to and from the module 109 and/or storage device 111. Thedata connection device 115 can be of any known type including but notlimited to a wired or wireless data connection device 115. Examples of awireless data connection device 115 are those capable of communicatingwith other devices using cellular, Bluetooth, or any other type ofwireless connection, such as IEEE 802.11 compliant wirelesscommunications, while examples of a wired-type data connection device115 includes connections such as Ethernet, universal serial bus (USB),mini-USB, or the like. Further, the data communication device 115 canoperate in/communicate via any type of network, including for examplevia a cellular, public wireless, and/or private wireless communicationnetwork. Further, the data connection device 115 can communicate via aninternet based communication network.

As shown in FIG. 1, the performance monitoring module 109 receives asignal from the input AC signal at point A and/or the rectified ACsignal, point B, which informs the performance module 109 of the inputsignal voltage, current, frequency, reactive or apparent power (KVA)and/or real power (watts). Further, the performance monitoring module109 receives a signal E from the output of the system 100 of the outputsignal current, voltage, frequency and/or power (watts). The performancemodule 109 uses the signals A and/or B and E to determine performancecharacteristics of the system 100.

In an exemplary embodiment, the module 109 determines the overallefficiency of the system 100 by comparing the input power (e.g., watts)with the output power (e.g., watts). For example, efficiency=(outputpower/input power)×100. This efficiency provides an overall efficiencyof the welding or cutting system 100 during operation. In addition todetermining efficiency, the performance module 109 can use thisinformation to determine the total amount of power or energy used by thesystem 100 during various stages of operation. For example, theperformance module 109 can determine energy/power usage during idleperiods and during operation, and can in fact determine energy usage foreach welding operation being performed. Of course, the module 109 candetermine efficiency during these similar operational or idle periods.These efficiency and energy consumption determinations can be madereal-time based on the real-time feedback of the signals at A and E, Band E, or A and B and E. A sampling rate for each of the signals shouldbe selected to ensure that to provide sufficient real-time information.It should be noted that if the efficiency is determined using the signalfrom downstream of the rectifier 101 (or any initial stage) then anypower losses in the rectifier 101 should be considered in thecalculation of efficiency. Because there are some power losses in theinitial stage 101 an accurate efficiency calculation would take intoaccount those losses. Such losses can be considered using an efficiencycurve for the stage 101 (which can be in the form of a look-up table) sothat the appropriate losses are considered at the proper load levels.

In addition to determining efficiency of the system 100, the module 109can also determined the real-time power factor of the system 100. It isgenerally known that the power factor of a system is the ratio of realpower (watts) to the apparent power (volts*amps) of the system 100.Thus, the module 109 can use the appropriate signal information fromeither A and B to determine the power factor of the system 100 duringvarious modes of operation, or during different welding jobs. Thus thepower factor ratio is (real power (watts)/apparent power (V×I))×100.

It should be noted that embodiments of the present application can beutilized in power supplies which receive either a single or three phaseinput signal. Embodiments of the present invention are not limited inthis regard.

During operation the calculated system efficiency and/or power factorratio are communicated to the user interface 113 so that thisinformation is actively displayed on the user interface 113. Because ofthis, a user of the system 100 can monitor, in real time, the efficiencyand/or the power factor of the system 100 during operation. This will bediscussed further below. In other exemplary embodiments, the module 109can send this information to the data storage device 111 to store thisinformation to be recalled at a later time. In addition, in furtherembodiments the module 109 can send this information to the dataconnection device 115 so that the information can be communicated toanother device or network so that the information can be reviewedremotely from the welding system 100.

Thus, during operation the user of the system 100 can monitor, inreal-time, the system efficiency and/or power factor of the system. Thisallows the user to determine if the system 100 is being utilized in anoptimal manner or if there are any issues or anomalies during operation.Further, because of the data storage device 111, the user can call upstored information regarding an operation that has already occurred. Forexample, the storage device 111 can record all of the data from anoperation as well as recording maximum and minimum levels of theoperational criteria during a welding or cutting operation. This allowsthe user to, after an operation is complete, review the history of awelding or cutting operation to view the maximum and minimum efficiencyand/or power factor of a given welding or cutting operation. Further,the data storage device can also record and store other criteriaregarding an operation, including but not limited to the median and meanof the efficiency and power factor. In fact, any number of statisticalmath operations can be performed utilizing the collected data, includingmaximum, minimum, average, etc.

In another exemplary embodiment, at least one of the performance module109 and/or the storage device 111 stores information regarding the costof energy (for example KW/hr cost) used by the system 100. That is, ifthe system 100 draws its power from a utility grid a user can input thecost of the utility power into the module 109 and/or the storage device111 via the user interface 113 or the data connection 115 (for examplevia a computer). Alternatively, if the system 100 is drawing power froman off-grid source (generator, etc.) the user can input the cost of thatpower. Additionally, in another exemplary embodiment the module 109contains a clock timer which tracks the date and time of operation. Insuch embodiments, the module 109 and/or the storage device 111 iscapable of storing multiple power cost factors which are assigned todifferent times and dates of operation. For example, it is known thatutility power can have a different cost (KW/hr) depending on the time ofday that the power is consumed. Thus, if a utility has two or moredifferent power costs for a given time period, these different costfactors can be stored and utilized by the module 109.

With this information the module 109 can calculate, display (on the userinterface) and/or transmit to another device (via the data connection115) the cost of a welding or cutting process or operation. The system100 can also display the cost of energy used in a set time period (forexample during a day). For example, the user interface 113 can displaythe total cost of energy used during a day or during a weldingoperation, while at the same time showing the real-time efficiency andpower factor of the system 100.

In a further exemplary embodiment of the present invention, any one ofthe controller 109 and/or data storage device 111 contains informationregarding utility power charges that are related to peak vs. off-peakpower usage, seasonal power usage variations, energy charges, and/ordemand charges, and the controller 109 can monitor power usage by thesystem 100 relative to any one, or all, of these energy cost drivers.For example, it is known that utility power companies not only charge afee for the usage of energy (Kw/hr charge) but they can also chargebased on demand. This is called a demand charge which can penalize theerratic use of power over a given time period (1 month). Typically, tomonitor “demand” a utility will take a snap-shot of power usage at afacility at consistent intervals (e.g., every 15 minutes) and thehighest power usage of the snap-shots will drive the demand charge cost.Thus, if two different facilities are using the exact same amount ofpower in a month (e.g., 10,000 kw/hr), the facility which uses thispower steadily over the entire time period (10,000/30 days=333.33 Kw/hrper day) will be charged less than the facility that uses the powererratically because the second facility will have a higher demand chargefor the time period (e.g., a spike of 1,000 kw/hr in a given day). Bystoring this data and monitoring real time power usage and consumption,embodiments of the present invention allow the user to monitor powerusage against any of these utility metrics or costs to ensure that theyare optimizing power usage and are not exceeding any defined power usagerequirements. For example, the user can enter power usage limits ormetrics into the system 100 as either limits or monitoring points andthe system 100 can compare actual usage to the limits to give the useran accurate assessment of power usage.

It is quite common for a user to perform different welding or cuttingfunctions in a given period of time. For example, if the system 100 isused for welding it is possible for the system 100 to perform two ormore different welding operations during a day or during other periodsof time. The welding operations can vary by duration, load, energyconsumed, etc. Embodiments of the present invention allow the user toview the efficiency, power factor and total cost of each of thedifferent welding operations in real-time. This information can beemployed by a user in any number of ways. For example, the user candetermine that a first welding operation would cost significantly lessif performed at a different time of the day. Further, the user candetermine that a particularly welding operation results in diminishedefficiency of the system 100, thus allowing the user to change somevariables of the operation to improve operational efficiency. Further,the data can be stored for any desired duration of time to allowhistorical data to be retrieved as necessary.

The module 109 can be constructed in any number of ways and can beimplemented in a number of ways without departing from the scope andspirit of the present invention. In an exemplary embodiment of thepresent invention the performance module is a digital controller, andcan be, for example, a C2000 series digital signal controller as sold byTexas Instruments. Of course, this example is not intended to belimiting as other types of controllers can be used, so long as they arecapable of performing functions similar to those discussed herein.

As shown in FIG. 1, other exemplary embodiments of the present inventioncan receive signals from the respective DC buses B1 and B2. Thesesignals can be used to monitor the voltage or current levels of thesebuses and display that information on the user interface 113. Forexample, the system 100 may be configured to maintain the first DC busat a fixed level (for example 400 volts), and circuit 108 can monitorthis voltage and display the detected voltage on the interface 113similar to that described above. As such, the user can determine if thebus B1 and/or B2 is being maintained at a desired level (perhaps withina given tolerance level) or if there are significant anomalies ortransients in the bus voltage. Further, these additional signals can beused to monitor the performance of the circuits in the system 100. Forexample, the module 109 can monitor the performance of the regulatedstage 103 during operation and determine if the stage 103 is operatingwithin an acceptable operational range. If the module determines thatthe stage 103 is operating outside of a predetermined operational rangethen an error message can be displayed on the user interface 113.Alternatively a “service requested” indication can be displayed on theuser interface 113. This can be similarly performed on any of the stagesof the power supply, including the unregulated stage 105 and/or theoutput stage 107. In such embodiments the module 109 will havepredetermined performance metrics stored therein to compare to theperformance of the overall system and/or some or all of its components.When the performance level of the system 100 and/or its components dropsbelow this predetermined level then an indication is provided in theuser interface 113 to alert the user that a performance issue has beenidentified. Thus, embodiments of the present invention can be haveeither predetermined performance metrics, or performance metrics enteredor programmed by the user, to which actual performance is comparedduring operation and if system performance is detected below theperformance metric the system 100 can display a warning indicator. In anexemplary embodiment, the system 100 monitors either at least one of thepower factor and efficiency of the system 100 and compares the real-timedata to the predetermined thresholds and provides a status indication tothe user if the performance drops below the performance metric levels.In some embodiments, the system 100 can display a first warning whenperformance drops below the threshold level to indicate that performanceis not optimal, and then a second warning when performance falls below asecond threshold level which can indicate a serious maintenance issue.For example, the second warning level can be set at when performancefalls below 90% of the first threshold performance value. In exemplaryembodiments of the present invention, the controller 109 contains atimer circuit which monitors a time duration of any performance levelswhich fall below a performance metric threshold so that reporting offalse errors can be mitigated. In some welding operations there may beanomalies which cause the performance of the system 100 to dropintermittently below the performance metrics which are reflective ofsomething other than a compromised system 100. Thus the timer monitorsthe duration of any drops below the performance metric levels and if thedrop in performance is below a threshold duration no error is reported,and when the drop in performance extends beyond the duration thresholdan error is reported.

FIG. 2 depicts an exterior of an exemplary system 100 in accordance withan embodiment of the present invention, where the system 100 is encasedin a housing 207. The system 100 contains a plurality of input controls201 which allow a user to input welding or cutting parameters, such asvoltage, current, wire feed speed, etc. These controls 201 are used bythe user to define the parameters of a welding or cutting operation.Their utilization is known and will not be described in detail herein.The system 100 also has at least two output studs 203 which provide thewelding or cutting current/signal to for the operation. These studswould be coupled to leads as is generally known. As described above, thesystem 100 also has a user interface 113, as well as a data entry panel205. The user interface 113 can have any kind of display screen 209including, but not limited to, LCD, LED, etc., which displaysinformation to the user. Similarly, the data entry panel 205 can be anytype of panel which permits the user to input and/or access informationstored within the data performance module 109, including but not limitedto a keypad, a touch screen, track-ball, etc.

As described above, the user interface 113 contains a screen 209 whichdisplays information from the module 109 and or the storage device 111.The screen 209 can display different information on different regions ofthe display 209. As shown in FIG. 2 the screen 209 displays the systempower factor (98.2%) 211, the system efficiency (95%) 213, the totalelectrical cost of a weld job ($26.00) 215 and the daily electrical costof operation ($112.00) 217. The screen 209 can also display a generaloperational status of the system at 219. This portion of the displayscreen provides the user with a general operational status of the system100 based on predetermined operational parameters, and can also displayerror or warning signs based on various detected operational parameters.Of course, the system 100 can display other information, such as anavailable power level below a determined demand power level. Asdescribed above, the system 100 can be programmed with a demand powerlevel which is not to be exceeded and the system 100 can display adifferential between power being consumed and the demand power level toallow a user to determine if a given operation should be performed atthat time. Further, the system 100 can display optimal usage schedulesbased on desired weld schedules and energy costs.

During operation, a user can use the data entry panel 205 to inputvarious information, including operational parameters, energy costs,etc., or can retrieve any information stored in the data storage device111 regarding a welding or cutting operation. For example, the userinterface 113 and data entry panel 205 can be used to define or programoperations for the system 100 to be monitored by the system 100. Forexample, a user can program a first and second welding profile to beperformed by the system 100 such that the module 109 monitors each ofthe different welding profiles when implemented and provides the desiredefficiency, power factor and/or cost information to the user at thecompletion of the welding operations. In this way a user can determinethe optimal timing for performing the welding operations to optimizeoverall energy usage and cost.

FIG. 3, depicts a network 300 of exemplary systems 100 which are allcoupled to a computer terminal 301 and/or a mobile communication device303 so that the same information that can be viewed or accessed on theuser interface 113 can also be accessed via the terminal 301 and/ormobile communication device 303. Such a system 300 allows a user tomonitor the performance and operational cost of multiple systems 100 ata given time such that an overall welding or cutting operation can bemonitored or controlled from a single location. Embodiments of thepresent invention are not limited by methods of communication betweenthe systems 100 and the terminal 301 and or mobile communication device303. For example, the components of the system 300 can communicate viawired, Ethernet, cellular, public wireless, private wirelesscommunication network. Further, the components of the system cancommunicate via an internet based communication network. Examples ofsuch communication methods and systems are described in U.S. Pat. No.7,245,875 entitled “System and Method to Facilitate WirelessCommunication in a Welding Environment” and U.S. Pat. No. 7,574,172entitled “System and Method to Facilitate Wireless Wide AreaCommunication in a Welding Environment,” both of which are incorporatedherein by reference, in their entirety. The mobile device 303 can be anyone of a pendant control, mobile communication device, smart-phone,tablet, etc.

Thus, the system 300 and computer 301 and/or mobile device 303 canmonitor and control the operation of all of the systems 100 as describedabove such that the same information can be displayed, monitored andprogrammed at the decives 301/303. For example, the system 300 can beconfigured such that the device 301 controls the operation of thesystems 100 so that power utilization of a facility is optimized basedon the relevant demand and cost factors. As an example, the above stateddemand charge information can be monitored by the computer 301 such thatthe computer prevents a programmed demand value from being exceeded. Insuch an example, a power demand threshold can be programmed into thecomputer 301 by a user which represents a maximum power usage at anygiven time and the computer 301 monitors power usage by all of thesystems 100 and prevents the operation of any one, or more, of thesystems 100 is that usage would cause the demand power threshold to beexceeded. Once power usage drops to a level sufficiently below thethreshold level the computer 301 allows a system 100 to be utilized.With such system flexibility, a user of the system 300 can monitor andcontrol power usage at a given facility to determine optimal performanceand financial usage of the welding or cutting systems 100. The system300 can be used to optimize power consumption and cost management for afacility or system 300 taking into account any desired factors.

FIG. 4 depicts another exemplary system 400 of the present invention.The system 400 has a power supply system 100 of the present inventioncoupled to a wire feeder device 401 which is used to feed a wireelectrode 403 to a welding operation (not shown) during welding. Thewire feed speed of a welding operation can be set by the controls 402 onthe device 401 or the speed can be set by controls 201 on the system100. In the system shown 400 the amount of wire electrode 403 fed to thewelding operation is transmitted to and processed by the module 109 todetermine and record an amount of wire fed to a welding operation. Priorto welding, a user can input (e.g., using the data entry device 205) aunit cost for the electrode 403 being consumed such that the module 109can calculate the cost of wire 403 consumed during a welding operation.For example, a user can input the cost of the wire 403 as $0.02/foot andthe module 109 receives information regarding the amount of wire 403consumed and determines a cost of the welding operation as it is ongoingand/or at its completion. Thus, in some embodiments of the invention,not only can the electrical cost of an operation be calculated but alsoan electrical+consumable cost can be calculated and displayed for agiven welding operation or for a time period of operation. Thus, theuser interface can display a total cost of a welding operation (i.e.,electrical+consumable), but can display the respective costs separatelyso that a user can understand, in real time, the electrical andconsumable cost of a welding operation. The wire feeder device 401 canbe coupled to the system 100 via a wired connection 405 to allow for thetransfer of information, but can also be transferred via a wirelessconnection.

In addition to determining operational energy and wire cost information,other exemplary embodiments can also determine a shielding gas cost. Itis known that in some welding operations a shielding gas is employed toshielding the welding operation. Thus, similar to the informationregarding the wire 403, a user can input data, via the user interface113 and/or data entry device 205 regarding the cost of a shielding gasper unit time of welding into the module 109 such that the module candetermine a cost of shielding gas during a welding operation. Forexample, a user can input a cost of shielding gas at $0.05 per minute ofwelding, at a flow pressure of 14 PSI. Alternatively, a user can input atype of shielding gas and the system 100 contains a look up table withthe appropriate cost information. During operation the module 109 willmonitor the amount time the welding operation was ongoing (using a timercircuit, or the like) and thus determine a cost of shielding gas. Thus,not only can the module 109 calculate the energy cost, the wire cost,but it can also determine the cost of shielding gas and display each ofthese costs individually and as a total. In such embodiments, a user candetermine an entire cost of a welding operation and use this informationto optimize and/or track the use of the systems 100. Such system canalso provide a user with a very accurate cost allocation for a specificwelding or cutting operation.

FIG. 5 is a representative flow diagram of an operation with anexemplary embodiment of the present invention. In a first step 501, costinformation is input into the system 100. This can include energy costinformation, consumable cost information and/or shielding gas costinformation. This information can be entered into the system via eitherthe data entry device 205 and/or a remote system 301/303 via the dataconnection 115. In the next step 503 a welding schedule or weldingoperation can be entered into the system 100. This can be entered viasimilar methods or via the controls 203. Alternatively, the weld orcutting schedule may have already been installed and stored within thesystem 100, thus this step can simply be the selection of apreprogrammed weld schedule. Then the welding or cutting process beginsat 505. During the operation, the performance module 109 monitors theoperation of the system 100, including the input power (watts) 507, theapparent input power (KVA) (V×I) 509 and the output power (watts) 511 ofthe system 100. At step 513, this information is used to calculate thereal-time power factor of the system, and at step 515 this informationis used to calculate the efficiency of the system. Also, at step 517 theenergy cost is calculated and accumulated such that the total currentcost of the operation is displayed as it accumulates. At step 519 eachof the determined parameters, i.e., power factor, efficiency and cost,is displayed on the user interface 113 so that the user can monitor thestatus of the welding or cutting operation. As explained above, the costof the operation can also include the consumable and shielding gas cost(not specifically shown in FIG. 5), which would require the entry of theappropriate cost information and at least wire feeding information todetermine the amount of consumable that has been used. At step 521, theuser of the system 100 can evaluate the displayed data, as well as usethe user interface 113 to determine a peak and minimum power factor andefficiency achieved. Based on this information the user can modify thewelding or cutting operation as desired to improve the operationalcharacteristics of the operation, including changing the time of day atwhich the operation was performed to improve cost.

In other embodiments, the system can evaluate if whether or not anotherwelding or cutting system 100 can be utilized based on the currentdetected power usage and associated cost factors.

As also shown in FIG. 5, in some exemplary embodiments of the presentinvention a performance evaluation step 523 occurs in which at least oneof the power factor and efficiency is compared to a thresholdperformance level and if the performance is below the threshold level awarning indication is provided at the user interface 113 at step 525.The threshold level can be predetermined by the manufacturer of thesystem 100 and preset into the module 109, or the threshold level orlevels can be determined by the user. For example, the user can input,via the user interface 113 and data entry device 205 a thresholdefficiency level of 90% such that if the system 100 efficiency dropsbelow 90% during an operation a warning indication is provided.

Furthermore, in other embodiments the system 100/300 can be configuredto generate usage recommendations to optimize cost and performance ofeither a single system 100 or a network of systems 300. For example, thesystem 100/300 can evaluate the historic power usage for variousoperations and suggest an operational schedule for a given time periodtaking into account peak charges, off-peak charges, demand charges,system efficiencies, etc.

It is noted that in FIG. 1, the module 109 is shown as a single module109 and the data storage device 111 is shown as a separate component.However, embodiments of the present invention are not limited to thisconfiguration as the module 109 can be comprised of a plurality ofseparate components or modules which perform the same or similarfunctions. Further, the module 109 and the data storage device 111 canbe made integral. It is also noted that the control circuits and controlcircuitry for the components of the system 100 have not been shown forclarity. However, the control of such circuits is generally known andneed not be described herein in detail. Further, it is contemplated thatat least some of the functions of the module 109 described herein can beperformed by a control circuit used to control at least some of thecomponents of the system.

While the invention has been particularly shown and described withreference to exemplary embodiments thereof, the invention is not limitedto these embodiments. It will be understood by those of ordinary skillin the art that various changes in form and details may be made thereinwithout departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as definedby the following claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A welding or cutting power supply, comprising: ahousing; a power conversion module located within the housing whichreceives an input signal having a first voltage, first current and firstpower and converts said input signal into an output signal having asecond voltage, second current and second power which are each differentfrom said respective first voltage, current and powers, and said powerconversion module provides said output signal to a load; a performancemonitoring module located within the housing and electrically coupled tosaid power conversion module which receives a reference signal from saidinput signal and a reference signal from said output signal duringoperation of said power conversion module and determines a real-timeefficiency of said power conversion module by comparing said first powerto said second power during an operation of said power conversionmodule; and at least one of a user interface and a data connectiondevice coupled to said housing to provide said determined real-timeefficiency to a user.
 2. The power supply of claim 1, wherein said powerconversion module comprises a DC conversion stage which receives saidinput signal and modifies said input signal to provide a DC voltagesignal before said power conversion module outputs said output signal,and where said DC conversion stage performs power factor correction onsaid input signal during said operation of said power conversion module,and wherein said performance monitoring module utilizes at least saidinput reference signal to determine a real-time power factor ratio ofsaid DC conversion stage and said real-time power factor ratio isprovided to at least one of said user interface and said data connectiondevice to provide said real-time power factor ratio to said user.
 3. Thepower supply of claim 2, wherein said performance monitoring moduledetermines at least one of a maximum, minimum and average power factorratio for said operation.
 4. The power supply of claim 2, wherein saiddetermined real-time efficiency, said determined real-time power factorratio and a cost of said operation is provided to at least one of saiduser interface and said data connection device to be monitored by saiduser during said operation.
 5. The power supply of claim 1, wherein saidperformance monitoring module determines at least one of a total,maximum and average amount of said first power utilized during saidoperation of said power conversion module.
 6. The power supply of claim1, wherein said user interface displays said real-time efficiency for aduration of said operation.
 7. The power supply of claim 1, furthercomprising a data storage device coupled to said performance monitoringmodule which receives said determined real-time efficiency and recordssaid real-time efficiency for said operation.
 8. The power supply ofclaim 1, wherein said performance monitoring module uses at least one ofsaid input reference signal and said output reference signal todetermine a cost of said operation, wherein said cost of said operationincludes at least one of a cost of said first power and a cost of aconsumable used in said operation.
 9. The power supply of claim 8,wherein said cost of said operation is provided to at least one of saiduser interface and said data connection device.
 10. The power supply ofclaim of claim 8, wherein said cost of said operation is a total cost ofoperation of said power conversion module over a determined period oftime.
 11. The power supply of claim 1, wherein said output signal is asignal that is suitable for welding or cutting processes.
 12. A weldingor cutting power supply, comprising: a housing; a DC conversion stagelocated within the housing which receives an input signal having a firstvoltage, first current and first power and converts said input signalinto a DC output signal having a fixed DC voltage, where said DCconversion stage performs a power factor correction function on saidinput signal; an output stage which receives said DC output signal andoutputs an output signal having an output voltage, output current andoutput power which are each different from said respective firstvoltage, current and powers, and said output signal is provided to aload; a performance monitoring module located within the housing andelectrically coupled to said DC conversion stage which receives areference signal from said input signal and determines a real-time powerfactor ratio of said DC conversion stage during an operation of said DCconversion stage; and at least one of a user interface and a dataconnection device coupled to said housing to provide said determinedreal-time power factor ratio to a user.
 13. The power supply of claim12, wherein said performance monitoring module determines a real-timeefficiency during said operation by comparing said first power to saidoutput power and said real-time efficiency is provided to at least oneof said user interface and said data connection device.
 14. The powersupply of claim 13, wherein said determined real-time efficiency, saiddetermined real-time power factor ratio and a cost of said operation isprovided to at least one of said user interface and said data connectiondevice.
 15. The power supply of claim 12, wherein said performancemonitoring module determines at least one of a total, maximum andaverage amount of said first power utilized for said operation.
 16. Thepower supply of claim 12, wherein said user display displays saidreal-time power factor ratio for a duration of said operation.
 17. Thepower supply of claim 12, wherein said performance monitoring moduledetermines at least one of a maximum, minimum and average power factorratio for said operation.
 18. The power supply of claim 12, furthercomprising a data storage device coupled to said performance monitoringmodule which receives said determined real-time power factor ratio andrecords said real-time power factor ratio for said operation.
 19. Thepower supply of claim 12, wherein said performance monitoring moduleuses at least one of said input power and said output power to determinea cost of said operation, wherein said cost of said operation includesat least one of a cost of said first power and a cost of a consumableused in said operation.
 20. The power supply of claim 19, wherein saidcost of said operation is provided to at least one of said userinterface and said data connection device.
 21. The power supply of claimof claim 19, wherein said cost of said operation is a total cost ofoperation of said power supply over a determined period of time.
 22. Thepower supply of claim 12, wherein said output signal is a signal that issuitable for welding or cutting processes.